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WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY The n ..,. -: V -r , Men's soccer Time vs. money see page 6 visits nationals ( M 5 r see pge 8 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2005 wsusignpost.com VOLUME 68 ISSUE 43 armarrcs mmm f f w ; 51 ! ! -r- 'vy I Pli s -cu) ii. MSA lion for p! mi mm Bill giving WSU largest federal grant ever awaits presidential signature By Maria Villasenor editor in chief The Signpost After three years of waiting, Stacy Palen finally got a $1 million response. A bill earmarking $1 million specifically for Weber State University's Layton R Ott Planetarium sits on President George W. Bush's desk after passing through both the U.S. Congress and House of Senate in the last two weeks. "We've been shocked, stunned V Members of the Weber State University Varsity ROTC team practice for the Varsity ROTC Ranger Challenge. The team spent Thursday through Sunday in California and took fourth place. Ranger challenge tests ROTC cailsi s!df Is WSU students take fourth place in difficult California competition By Jesica Medellin features editor The Signpost It was a comfortable 80 degrees in sunny Fort Hunter Liggett, Calif, this weekend, where the ROTC Ranger Challenge was held. Cadets from 23 different schools in Utah, California, Nevada and Arizona came out to compete. The Ranger Challenge is a rigorous competition that tests soldiering skills of ROTC cadets and is modeled after the Army Best Ranger competition. Skills include physical fitness, rucksack march, shooting skills, an obstacle course and a rope bridge challenge. The cadets compete as a team in Project uses unique approach to help meth By Blair Dee Hodges news editor The Signpost The intense rush from a methamphetamine high can last up to 12 hours, but when users fall from the high, stomach cramps, anxiety, convulsions and insomnia are there to catch them. In reality, there must be something to using methamphetamines or people wouldn't do it. Most addicts don't fit the mental picture of a runaway teenager sitting in an alley, said Luciano Colonna, The Harm Reduction Program executive director on Monday to 50 Weber State University students. The drug is so inexpensive and easy to create, it has become the drug of choice for blue-collar workers, soccer moms and homosexuals, Colonna said. In the year 2000, 3,448 addicts preferred methamphetamines a and amazed, and it's just been a little bit of a stretch even to wrap our minds around it," said Palen, WSU physics professor, noting the bill will likely be signed. "Our annual budget prior to this was $10,000 for the . Ott Planetarium." The federal grant is part of a NASA appropriations bill and the largest to ever be given to WSU. Palen wrote to U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) in 2002 for a mm i different categories over a two-day period, starting at 4 a.m. and ending around 6 p.m. Cadets accumulate points and the team with the most points wins. John Tribe was Weber State University's team captain this year and said that 20 students tried out for the team but only 10 could be chosen. The teams have to include at least one female and Tribe feels like they made an excellent choice. "The real peak performer was Kristen," Tribe said. "She didn't have any military training and she maxed her PT test. She never complained, did the 10K and was always motivated. And Telleson was the man on the ruck march," Tribe said. Derek Tellesson, ranger-challenge teammate, described the 10K, rucksack march as a "ruckrun." Each cadet carries a total that reached 5,486 in 2004. Colonna believes "harm reduction" is a better way to curtail the effects of drug use. A "cold-turkey" approach to quitting drugs is often discouraging and ineffective, while a harm-reduction approach targets the behavior associated with drug use, rather than the drug use itself, he said. Colonna, a 48-who spent time year-old writing grant to fund the on-campus planetarium. The proposal or "white paper" Palen wrote suggested funds to improve many of the planetarium's facilities. After two years, pushing by the Dale Ostlie, WSU College of Science dean and Christina Millard, office of sponsored projects director, and n o . Ott Planetarium WEBER STATE muiU tCl (ASON STALEY lilt MCAHJi I 35-pound rucksack and his or her M-16 rifle while dressed in "full-battle-rattle." WSU's team finished the 6.5 miles in 73 minutes, coming in second place. Tellesson carried up to three rucksacks at one time during the march for teammates who were cramping or needed some extra help. It all paid off in the end; WSU took fourth out of the 23 schools that competed. "The space between second and fourth was six points, and third and fourth was two points," Tribe said. "So all of us, one little break and we could have fallen into second." Brigham Young University took first place, followed by Utah State University and then Southern Utah University. "The top four teams were See Cadet page 5 M 1 j X - .' nullum MK.ANCAKUON 1 ;.'!.' w,Mll Luciano Colonna, executive director of the Harm Reduction Project, spoke to students Monday about methamphetamine use. program in Massachusetts. Needle musician exchange programs are a method theatrical of harm reduction; providing clean response,' the planetarium funded its projects, including buying a new projector, with a donation by the Ott family. Palen said the planetarium would use the $1 million to improve outreach programs. Palen said faculty from the WSU College of Science and student workers at the planetarium will meet next UNIVERSITY t " Seat-securing bill awaits presidential approval By Chris Ripplinger campus affairs editor The Signpost After several amendments, the third bill concerning the removal of special constituency senate seats passed unanimously Monday and now awaits presidential review. The bill was originally designed to prevent the Weber State University Student Association senate from prematurely eliminating special constituency senate seats, some of which include the African . American, nontraditional and students with disabilities positions. Jason Allison, WSU Student Association social and behavioral sciences senator, wrote the bill BA05-9 and James West, nontraditional senator, cosigned it, which is the third in the string of bills West said were designed to "give the students a voice in the elimination process." "There may come a time when a senate seat needs to be eliminated and this bill gives the senators an opportunity to decide whether that seat should remain or not," West said. "As far as a compromise, I think it gives the students a say in whether or not their seat is retained; along with that, it gives the senators an opportunity to decide if a seat should be looked at closely; it leaves power with both." Allison's bill states that a senate seat may be removed when a bill is presented to the senate and three-fourths of the senators vote to eliminate that seat. The bill also allows the seat to be reinstated within 30 days of the elimination, if the constituency presents a petition bearing the names of 25 percent of those students, not to exceed 150 signatures. The position would then be reopened for pieces in New York City, became an advocate for "harm reduction" when a lot of people he knew were dying of AIDS. "It was pretty tragic, it was a horrible, long death," Colonna said, "So I took a part-time job as an 1 1 IV counselor." Colonna soon found himself helping with a needle exchange drug paraphernalia to addicts who might otherwise spread disease when sharing dirty needles. Soon, Colonna met Mark Bigler, WSU College of Social and Behavioral Sciences dean, who also heads the board of directors for the Harm Reduction Project. Colonna became executive director of the project. decide how to spend the money, but one item will soon be crossed off the wish list. Palen said $250,000 would be spent to buy a super-computing cluster, which will be able to process in an hour what it now takes days to complete. Palen said students at the planetarium would spend three days to create a 30-minute animated program. That computing cluster would also be open to faculty, who conduct studies with enormous data sets, like building virtual planets. She also said a computing technologies professor wants to teach a class ? 1 s " M i m i i 1 j Jim West WSU Student Association nontraditional student senator . - ). V x , Ryan Starks WSU Student Association president an application period of three weeks. The original bill West wrote BA05-6 was also unanimously passed by the senate, but later vetoed by Ryan Starks, WSU Student Association president, who said that it would remove power from the senate and prevent a restructure if needed in the future. The senate did not overturn Starks's veto. Now that Allison's bill passed with 14 in favor and three abstentions, Starks has another opportunity to veto or pass the bill. "I think it's an improvement "Our country has been saying: 'Just say no and 'Fight the war on drugs and that approach has been an abysmal failure." Mark Bigler, College of Social and Behavioral Sc iences clean According to Bigler, harm reduction principles encourage incremental changes toward safer behavior. "Our country has been saying: 'Just say no,' and 'Fight the war on drugs,' and that approach has been an abysmal failure," Bigler said. "Eliminating the on supercomputing technology, and with this new resource, such a course is possible at WSU. Palen said the new hardware would open avenues presently blocked by the current systems. "You just decide not to do things because they take too long," Palen said. "Now we're going to have a whole bunch of projects that we can do that we just couldn't do before." Ron Proctor, a WSU integrated science senior who works at the Layton P. Ott Planetarium, said he looks forward to using See NASA page 3 "It gives the students a say in whether or not their seat is retained... it gives the senators an opportunity to decide if a seat should be looked at closely; it gives power to both' "I think it's an improvement from the original bill that was vetoed ... Although not perfect, I think it's the first step in the right direction I'm supportive of it." from the original bill that was vetoed and I don't feel that this bill is as binding or restricting to the senate," Starks said. "Although not perfect, I think it's the first step in the right direction I'm supportive of it." West said he is pleased Starks vetoed his first bill because it gave the senate an opportunity to learn how the process works and how they should conduct business within the senate. The issue of protecting special constituency senate See Bill page r addicts risky behaviors associated with meth use is a better start to solving the problem." Bigler said melh use is beginning to take hold in the homosexual community. "Using the drug gives them highly increased pleasure," Bigler said. "One infected partner injects the other and uses the same needle on himself." Others who then become infected reuse the needles. The Harm Reduction Project, which has an office in Salt Lake City, distributes condoms to promote See Addicts page 5

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WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY The n ..,. -: V -r , Men's soccer Time vs. money see page 6 visits nationals ( M 5 r see pge 8 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2005 wsusignpost.com VOLUME 68 ISSUE 43 armarrcs mmm f f w ; 51 ! ! -r- 'vy I Pli s -cu) ii. MSA lion for p! mi mm Bill giving WSU largest federal grant ever awaits presidential signature By Maria Villasenor editor in chief The Signpost After three years of waiting, Stacy Palen finally got a $1 million response. A bill earmarking $1 million specifically for Weber State University's Layton R Ott Planetarium sits on President George W. Bush's desk after passing through both the U.S. Congress and House of Senate in the last two weeks. "We've been shocked, stunned V Members of the Weber State University Varsity ROTC team practice for the Varsity ROTC Ranger Challenge. The team spent Thursday through Sunday in California and took fourth place. Ranger challenge tests ROTC cailsi s!df Is WSU students take fourth place in difficult California competition By Jesica Medellin features editor The Signpost It was a comfortable 80 degrees in sunny Fort Hunter Liggett, Calif, this weekend, where the ROTC Ranger Challenge was held. Cadets from 23 different schools in Utah, California, Nevada and Arizona came out to compete. The Ranger Challenge is a rigorous competition that tests soldiering skills of ROTC cadets and is modeled after the Army Best Ranger competition. Skills include physical fitness, rucksack march, shooting skills, an obstacle course and a rope bridge challenge. The cadets compete as a team in Project uses unique approach to help meth By Blair Dee Hodges news editor The Signpost The intense rush from a methamphetamine high can last up to 12 hours, but when users fall from the high, stomach cramps, anxiety, convulsions and insomnia are there to catch them. In reality, there must be something to using methamphetamines or people wouldn't do it. Most addicts don't fit the mental picture of a runaway teenager sitting in an alley, said Luciano Colonna, The Harm Reduction Program executive director on Monday to 50 Weber State University students. The drug is so inexpensive and easy to create, it has become the drug of choice for blue-collar workers, soccer moms and homosexuals, Colonna said. In the year 2000, 3,448 addicts preferred methamphetamines a and amazed, and it's just been a little bit of a stretch even to wrap our minds around it," said Palen, WSU physics professor, noting the bill will likely be signed. "Our annual budget prior to this was $10,000 for the . Ott Planetarium." The federal grant is part of a NASA appropriations bill and the largest to ever be given to WSU. Palen wrote to U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) in 2002 for a mm i different categories over a two-day period, starting at 4 a.m. and ending around 6 p.m. Cadets accumulate points and the team with the most points wins. John Tribe was Weber State University's team captain this year and said that 20 students tried out for the team but only 10 could be chosen. The teams have to include at least one female and Tribe feels like they made an excellent choice. "The real peak performer was Kristen," Tribe said. "She didn't have any military training and she maxed her PT test. She never complained, did the 10K and was always motivated. And Telleson was the man on the ruck march," Tribe said. Derek Tellesson, ranger-challenge teammate, described the 10K, rucksack march as a "ruckrun." Each cadet carries a total that reached 5,486 in 2004. Colonna believes "harm reduction" is a better way to curtail the effects of drug use. A "cold-turkey" approach to quitting drugs is often discouraging and ineffective, while a harm-reduction approach targets the behavior associated with drug use, rather than the drug use itself, he said. Colonna, a 48-who spent time year-old writing grant to fund the on-campus planetarium. The proposal or "white paper" Palen wrote suggested funds to improve many of the planetarium's facilities. After two years, pushing by the Dale Ostlie, WSU College of Science dean and Christina Millard, office of sponsored projects director, and n o . Ott Planetarium WEBER STATE muiU tCl (ASON STALEY lilt MCAHJi I 35-pound rucksack and his or her M-16 rifle while dressed in "full-battle-rattle." WSU's team finished the 6.5 miles in 73 minutes, coming in second place. Tellesson carried up to three rucksacks at one time during the march for teammates who were cramping or needed some extra help. It all paid off in the end; WSU took fourth out of the 23 schools that competed. "The space between second and fourth was six points, and third and fourth was two points," Tribe said. "So all of us, one little break and we could have fallen into second." Brigham Young University took first place, followed by Utah State University and then Southern Utah University. "The top four teams were See Cadet page 5 M 1 j X - .' nullum MK.ANCAKUON 1 ;.'!.' w,Mll Luciano Colonna, executive director of the Harm Reduction Project, spoke to students Monday about methamphetamine use. program in Massachusetts. Needle musician exchange programs are a method theatrical of harm reduction; providing clean response,' the planetarium funded its projects, including buying a new projector, with a donation by the Ott family. Palen said the planetarium would use the $1 million to improve outreach programs. Palen said faculty from the WSU College of Science and student workers at the planetarium will meet next UNIVERSITY t " Seat-securing bill awaits presidential approval By Chris Ripplinger campus affairs editor The Signpost After several amendments, the third bill concerning the removal of special constituency senate seats passed unanimously Monday and now awaits presidential review. The bill was originally designed to prevent the Weber State University Student Association senate from prematurely eliminating special constituency senate seats, some of which include the African . American, nontraditional and students with disabilities positions. Jason Allison, WSU Student Association social and behavioral sciences senator, wrote the bill BA05-9 and James West, nontraditional senator, cosigned it, which is the third in the string of bills West said were designed to "give the students a voice in the elimination process." "There may come a time when a senate seat needs to be eliminated and this bill gives the senators an opportunity to decide whether that seat should remain or not," West said. "As far as a compromise, I think it gives the students a say in whether or not their seat is retained; along with that, it gives the senators an opportunity to decide if a seat should be looked at closely; it leaves power with both." Allison's bill states that a senate seat may be removed when a bill is presented to the senate and three-fourths of the senators vote to eliminate that seat. The bill also allows the seat to be reinstated within 30 days of the elimination, if the constituency presents a petition bearing the names of 25 percent of those students, not to exceed 150 signatures. The position would then be reopened for pieces in New York City, became an advocate for "harm reduction" when a lot of people he knew were dying of AIDS. "It was pretty tragic, it was a horrible, long death," Colonna said, "So I took a part-time job as an 1 1 IV counselor." Colonna soon found himself helping with a needle exchange drug paraphernalia to addicts who might otherwise spread disease when sharing dirty needles. Soon, Colonna met Mark Bigler, WSU College of Social and Behavioral Sciences dean, who also heads the board of directors for the Harm Reduction Project. Colonna became executive director of the project. decide how to spend the money, but one item will soon be crossed off the wish list. Palen said $250,000 would be spent to buy a super-computing cluster, which will be able to process in an hour what it now takes days to complete. Palen said students at the planetarium would spend three days to create a 30-minute animated program. That computing cluster would also be open to faculty, who conduct studies with enormous data sets, like building virtual planets. She also said a computing technologies professor wants to teach a class ? 1 s " M i m i i 1 j Jim West WSU Student Association nontraditional student senator . - ). V x , Ryan Starks WSU Student Association president an application period of three weeks. The original bill West wrote BA05-6 was also unanimously passed by the senate, but later vetoed by Ryan Starks, WSU Student Association president, who said that it would remove power from the senate and prevent a restructure if needed in the future. The senate did not overturn Starks's veto. Now that Allison's bill passed with 14 in favor and three abstentions, Starks has another opportunity to veto or pass the bill. "I think it's an improvement "Our country has been saying: 'Just say no and 'Fight the war on drugs and that approach has been an abysmal failure." Mark Bigler, College of Social and Behavioral Sc iences clean According to Bigler, harm reduction principles encourage incremental changes toward safer behavior. "Our country has been saying: 'Just say no,' and 'Fight the war on drugs,' and that approach has been an abysmal failure," Bigler said. "Eliminating the on supercomputing technology, and with this new resource, such a course is possible at WSU. Palen said the new hardware would open avenues presently blocked by the current systems. "You just decide not to do things because they take too long," Palen said. "Now we're going to have a whole bunch of projects that we can do that we just couldn't do before." Ron Proctor, a WSU integrated science senior who works at the Layton P. Ott Planetarium, said he looks forward to using See NASA page 3 "It gives the students a say in whether or not their seat is retained... it gives the senators an opportunity to decide if a seat should be looked at closely; it gives power to both' "I think it's an improvement from the original bill that was vetoed ... Although not perfect, I think it's the first step in the right direction I'm supportive of it." from the original bill that was vetoed and I don't feel that this bill is as binding or restricting to the senate," Starks said. "Although not perfect, I think it's the first step in the right direction I'm supportive of it." West said he is pleased Starks vetoed his first bill because it gave the senate an opportunity to learn how the process works and how they should conduct business within the senate. The issue of protecting special constituency senate See Bill page r addicts risky behaviors associated with meth use is a better start to solving the problem." Bigler said melh use is beginning to take hold in the homosexual community. "Using the drug gives them highly increased pleasure," Bigler said. "One infected partner injects the other and uses the same needle on himself." Others who then become infected reuse the needles. The Harm Reduction Project, which has an office in Salt Lake City, distributes condoms to promote See Addicts page 5